Page 2  Winter 2005 Farm News

Megan’s Thoughts on Apprenticing

New legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations.  This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security.  While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by these new regulations.

The new law in question heralds the entry into Iraqi law of patents on life forms - this first one affecting plants and seeds.  This law fits neatly into the US vision of Iraqi agriculture in the future - that of an industrial agricultural system dependent on large corporations providing inputs and seeds.  When the new law - on plant variety protection (PVP) - is put into effect, seed saving will be illegal and the market will only offer proprietary "PVP-protected" planting material "invented" by transnational agribusiness corporations.  The new law totally ignores all the contributions Iraqi farmers have made to development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and pulses.  Its consequences are the loss of farmers' freedoms and a grave threat to food sovereignty.

Source:http://www.gmwatch.org/ar chive2.asp? (October 22,2004)

New Artesian Well

 A state grant enabled us to have a new artesian well drilled this past Fall. This will provide greater water security during the bedding plant growing season.  Most of our bedding plants are grown from seeds started in February / March.  As they are transplanted into packs and pots we quickly begin to consume large amounts of water long before it can be safely drawn from the Saco River which is often frozen over this time of year.  The new well replaces a shallow one which has run dry in the past.

Food For Thought:

"The real work of planet-saving will be small, humble and humbling, and insofar as it involves love, pleasing and rewarding its jobs will be too many to count, too many to report, too many to be publicly noticed or rewarded, too small to make anyone rich or famous." Wendel Berry

I'm looking forward to my stay at Rippling Waters.  As an apprentice, I hope to contribute as much as I can to the farm and its multi-layered responsibilities.  For the last four months, I have engaged in the WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) program.  I've been traveling around New England and Canada, serving on various organic farms in exchange for scrumptious food, shelter, and hands-on learning experiences.  I've always been an advocate of local, organic food production even when I could barely afford a carton of free range eggs in college.  Luckily, I was a cook at a local food co-op and received a decent percentage off of store items plus I snacked most of the day on dishes I prepared.  A good cook always tastes his/her food before selling it to the public!

I'm also an advocate for youth.  Working with young people has always been a passion of mine.  I have my teaching certificate and last year I was a dorm counselor at a Waldorf boarding high school in the hills of New Hampshire.  Waldorf education incorporates notions of community, environmental respect and exploration, and spiritual development through the arts.  One of the largest values I witnessed in this private school was the quality of food served.  High Mowing purchases fresh food from local farms and organic providers.  It's proven that natural food better serves students.  So why are so many schools serving students ultra-processed food lacking nutrients?

I'm a large supporter of school and community gardens because healthy food is a right of all people.  Working in the gardens helps students develop work ethics; knowledge of the sciences; respect for the food they eat, thus their own bodies; respect for the earth and soil and respect for our farmers, who grow our food. Hopefully, honing my gardening skills will increase my ability to start and maintain school /community gardens in the future.

Organic goods should not just be accessible to the wealthy; people of all income levels should have the same access, again it's their right. One question I have been mulling over in my head for years now is how can we successfully and financially connect all people to local/organic foods?  Is it community development?  Is it volunteering at organic farms so farmers can afford to cut down on their produce prices?  Is it educating people on the environmental and health benefits of eating naturally?  Is it protesting against large food manufacturers, which are taking out the smaller more responsible ones?  What about writing letter after letter to Bush to support small farmers by decreasing industrial farm subsidies?

While I was in AmeriCorps NCCC (National Community Civilian Corps) I learned that there is no one way to improve the world and that no one person can do it alone. As a team of ten we served the southeast region by traveling around and engaging in environmental, educational, disaster relief, and unmet human needs projects.  Although there is probably no one answer for the question I posed, I feel that each one of us can contribute in our own way.  My way is apprenticing at Rippling Waters.